Installation 2:
Mycah concentrated on what Chenyo had instructed her to do, her brow furrowed as she forced her mind and magic to focus on the pebble on the floor in front of her bare legs. Carefully she infused the pebble with a tiny amount of magic as she willed it upwards, with a small delicate movement across her chest with her left hand. Slowly it began to lift, rolling gently; suddenly she sent it careering towards the other end of the Dojo before stopping it abruptly.
“Now turn it to water” Chenyo instructed. Mycah raised an eyebrow, but kept her eyes closed. Focusing intently on the turning pebble she murmured some choice words, the syllables rolling off of her tongue; an ethereal glow begun to come from the pebble as it turned faster and faster. A loud explosion and the resulting shock wave sent Chenyo, Mycah and the others in the Dojo sprawling across the floor; when the dust had cleared and the coughing subsided, Mycah looked to see the pebble. Instead she found a beautiful crystal hanging in the air, the light refracted sending rainbows dancing across the burnt walls of the Dojo. Chenyo raised a hand to peal the crystal from the air but pulled away before he touched it.
“Mycah, come and hold it.” She pulled herself off the floor and jogged over, raising her own hand, the crystal dropped smoothly into the palm of her hand. Rolling it between her fingers she frowned slightly and tilted her head.
“It feels...alive.” She lifted her eyes to meet Chenyo’s, “I don’t understand.”
“I will explain it when you are older,” he said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Come, we must find Sorrel and Dio. I have something important to show you both.” Pulling out from under his shoulder she threw herself into the air and shifted into a young eagle, tucking her wings tight to her sides she barrel rolled twice before shooting skyward with a long ear splitting call. Her eyes scanned the forest below as her mind connected with the many hundreds and thousands of trees and living creatures below her. Dipping a wing, she drifted to the left as she sensed movement a mile ahead.
“Chenyo,” she said with her mind. “There is movement in the woods.”
“Lend me your eyes and show me what you see.” He responded; carefully connecting their minds fully she muttered words of sight allowing him to view at the same time as her. Blinking once or twice to get used to the echo in her vision she tilted her head to where she could see the movement. “Can you get closer? I cannot see as well as you with these eyes.” Mycah shifted quickly to a small sparrow and shot towards the canopy beneath her, her wings tucked half way into her sides; she rolled through the leaves she snapped them open and halted almost immediately. Scanning ahead she could see bright colours, flitting through the branches and leaves, she landed just above what appeared to be a make shift camp. “Can you sense magic, Mycah?”
“No,” she paused. “I think they are Invaders, Chenyo.” She observed them for a while longer, her eyes lingering on their faces. She flew a little closer and landed at face level on a branch in front of one of the women. She warbled a short song to her and smiled internally and the admiration in the woman’s face; she leant forwards slowly, her hand just in front of her and made to touch Mycah gently. Instead Mycah hopped to one side, fly over her head, her wing tips clipping the woman’s hair.
“Don’t even think about it, Mycah. Get back here now, that’s an order.” With a sigh, Mycah zipped from the makeshift camp and as she burst through the canopy she shifted back to her eagle and released another screaming call. She flew slowly back to the Dragon Centre keeping her eyes open for any other camps but found nothing. As she came down to land she shifted to a wolf and loped through the grounds; she jumped onto a bench and up onto the roof where she padded carefully, before dropping through the hole in the centre which let natural light in. Landing with a thud, she made her way quickly through the twisting passages passing other children learning at the Dojo until she found Chenyo with Sorrel and Dio waiting for her at the entrance of the Caves.
“What are we doing here?” She asked with her mind as she shifted.
“I have something to show you. I hope you did not do anything stupid regarding the Invaders, Mycah.”
“Course not, have some faith in me!” She turned toward the cave, “what are we waiting for?”
“You must enter blindfolded and you are not permitted to remove them until I tell you. You must follow the magic, wherever it leads you and use your own magic to find your way to where you are needed. When you feel the magic is at its strongest, find it and hold it tight to you.” He blindfolded each one of them in turn and made sure they were secure before he used magic of his own to roll the boulder blocking the entrance out of the way. “You have as long as you need.” One by one they filed into the cave slowly, Mycah lead followed by Dio then Sorrel. Mycah paused and stumbled as both the boys crashed into her.
“Jeez!” she yelped, her voice echoing back to her. “Careful!” Casting out her mind, she felt a tug of magic to her right and drifted in that direction, her hands finding cold stone of the walls which she used to guide her safely even though the magic pulsated across her eye lids allowing her to see in waves. Slowly she made her way through twists and turns, twice she banged her head on the ceiling of the cave when it lowered unexpectedly; her hands knocked against a tall pillar, running her fingers across it she traced the pattern not understanding what she could feel. As she shuffled forwards she could feel the magic getting significantly stronger, it was pulsing faster, waves of energy coming from something in the centre of the space in front of her. Extending her hand, she let the magic draw her nearer, as she connected with the item magic rolled through her body making her gasp. The object was as long as her forearm, solid and burning hot, yet it didn’t seem to burn her. She felt distant pulses of magic as she connected her mind with Dio and Sorrel.
“Have you found it?” she whispered to them.
“Yes,” they replied in unison, their voices filled with awe. They could feel the immense power thrumming off of the items they clutched to their hearts and even though they weren’t sure what it meant, they knew they were playing with stronger magic than any of them had ever felt before. Holding their items tightly they made their way back to the main cave and returned to single file as they edged towards the exit when Chenyo sat waiting.
“You may remove your blindfolds” he said quietly. The three of them paused before slowly raising a hand to remove the soft black cloth; as their eyes adjusted to the suddenly light they blinked rapidly and their eyes slid down. Dio held an obsidian coloured object in his hands, he rolled it gently and watch the light bounce from its shiny surface catching the deep blues and purples that rippled across its length. Sorrel’s was a bright red, infused with gold and flecks of silver that reflected the light and cast light across his face. Mycah’s eyes were wide as she gently turned the item over and saw she could see through the opal coloured covering on the item. Beneath the surface was a web of veins leading towards a small looking embryo; looking closer she realised what it was. The baby dragon twitched it’s front limbs and opened its little mouth.
“Dragons?” Mycah murmured in astonishment. She locked her amber eyes with Sorrel’s grey ones and Dio’s deep hazel ones. “We have baby dragons...”
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